Rejected Luna Finds True Mate

The pregnancy test sat on the bathroom counter, two pink lines staring back at me like a promise from the Moon Goddess herself. My hands trembled as I picked it up, pressing it against my chest as if I could protect this tiny miracle already growing inside me.

*We're going to have a pup,* my white wolf whispered weakly in my mind. She'd been so quiet lately, her strength fading with each rejection Nikolas threw at us, but now her voice carried a fragile hope.

"Maybe this will change things," I breathed to my reflection. Seven years. Nine hundred and ninety-nine rejections. But a child—our child—surely that would awaken something in him. Surely he'd finally see me as more than just a duty he inherited when the mate bond snapped into place.

I spent the afternoon planning how to tell him. A private dinner, perhaps. Or maybe I'd catch him after training when his wolf was closer to the surface, when he might actually feel the bond between us instead of blocking it out like static on a broken radio.

The pack meeting that evening was supposed to be routine—border security, patrol rotations, the usual Alpha business. I sat in my designated seat beside Nikolas's throne, trying to catch his eye, my secret burning on my tongue. But he stared straight ahead, his jaw set in that familiar hard line, his attention fixed on Leila who stood near the warriors' section, her perfect smile aimed directly at him.

Then the pain hit.

It started as a cramp, sharp and sudden, stealing my breath. I gripped the armrest of my chair, my knuckles going white. Something was wrong. Something was terribly, horribly wrong.

*The pup,* my wolf whimpered, panic flooding through our bond. *Something's wrong with our pup.*

The pain intensified, tearing through my abdomen like claws. I gasped, doubling over slightly, and reached out through our mate bond mind-link, the connection Nikolas kept locked tight unless absolutely necessary.

*Nikolas, please. I need you. Something's wrong—*

Static. Cold, empty static.

He'd blocked me. Again.

I tried again, my mental voice breaking with desperation. *Please, the baby—*

Nothing.

Across the room, Leila suddenly swayed dramatically, clutching her side. "Alpha," she gasped, her voice carrying perfectly through the hall. "Rogue attack. East border. I can sense it through my bond with the pack lands."

Nikolas was on his feet instantly, his Alpha aura flooding the room. "Marcus, gather the warriors. Leila, show me the location."

I tried to stand, tried to reach for him, but another wave of agony knocked me back into my seat. Blood. I could feel wetness spreading, warm and terrifying. "Nikolas—"

But he was already gone, Leila at his side, her hand on his arm as they rushed from the hall. The other pack members followed, leaving me alone with the omega servants who hovered uncertainly near the walls.

"Luna?" one of them ventured.

"Get the healer," I managed through gritted teeth. "Now."

But the pack healer had gone with Nikolas. Of course she had. Leila might need her at the "rogue attack" that I somehow knew, deep in my bones, was nothing but another one of her performances.

I stumbled from the hall, one hand pressed against my stomach, the other reaching along the wall for support. The pack house corridor stretched endlessly before me. Our room—I just needed to reach our room.

*Hold on,* I begged my wolf, begged the tiny life inside me. *Please hold on.*

But I could feel it slipping away, feel the bond with my unborn child growing fainter with each agonizing step. I collapsed just inside our bedroom door, my vision blurring with pain and tears.

*Nikolas,* I screamed through our mind-link one final time, putting every ounce of desperation into it. *Our child. Please. Our child is dying.*

The connection remained severed, a wall of ice where warmth should have been.

Hours later—I'd lost track of time, lost in waves of pain and grief—I heard footsteps. Nikolas's scent reached me first, pine and alpha dominance, cutting through the copper smell of blood.

He stopped in the doorway. I was on the floor where I'd fallen, my dress soaked with blood, my arms wrapped around my empty stomach.

"Elizabeth." His voice was flat, emotionless. "What happened?"

"Our baby." The words scraped out of my throat, raw and broken. "I tried to tell you. I tried to reach you but you blocked me and I lost—we lost—"

"There was a rogue attack."

"There was no attack!" The words tore out of me. "Leila lied and you chose her and our child died because you couldn't be bothered to answer me for five seconds—"

"Enough." His Alpha command slammed into me, forcing my jaw shut. "I am Alpha of this pack. I had to prioritize pack security over your dramatic episodes."

Dramatic episodes. Our child's death was a dramatic episode.

He turned to leave, then paused. "Clean yourself up. The pack doesn't need to see their Luna falling apart."

The door closed behind him with a quiet click that echoed louder than any slam.

I lay there on the floor, my arms still wrapped around the emptiness inside me, and felt something in my chest finally, irreversibly break.